Scientology 8-8008

London: Grant Production Co. Ltd.. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. 1965. Fourth Edition. Hardcover. [minor shelfwear, a couple of tiny brown spots on bottom edge of text block; the jacket is modestly worn and lightly soiled, with a couple of tiny nicks at the upper extremities and what looks like a tiny red fingerprint (blood?) on the spine]. A nice compact little volume, outlining the basic tenets of Hubbard's made-up religion (founded in 1953 after his first wacko enterprise, Dianetics, had crashed and burned). This fourth edition was the last to appear when Hubbard himself was still publicly in the driver's seat of his church/cult/business, a position he would putatively relinquish in 1966 by resigning as head of the C of S, after which he more or less went into hiding (while still maintaining organizational control) until his death twenty years later. His mini-essay "The Aims of Scientology," printed on the rear jacket panel, begins with "A civilization without insanity," but goes on to read like the babblings of a madman: "We may err, for we build a world with broken straws. But we will never betray your faith in us so long as you are one of us. The sun never sets on Scientology. And may a new day dawn for you, for those you love and for man. Our aims are simple, if great. And we will succeed, and we are succeeding at each new revolution of the earth. Your help is acceptable to us. Our help is yours." (Hard to believe, honestly, that this guy was ever a professional writer.) No hate mail, please; if you don't wish my snarky musings to be visible to the entire world, just buy the book and they'll vanish overnight. . (Inventory #: 30001)